Alexandra Mara Camilleri

This years' theme for the APS Mdina Cathedral Contemporary Art Biennale 2017 centres on the Mediterranean as a theatre of conflict and change. With news bombarding us non-stop of conflict and strife happening on both sides of the world, be it physical, environmental, emotional, societal or intellectual, our present has become shaped by discord. It is through art that one can become acquainted yet mollified at the atrocities of life. Art expresses itself and the world around it through tempered fulcrums and altered realities. In this article, I will be attempting a slight review of the latest cabaret to hit the Maltese theatre scene, whilst keeping in mind the on-going tasks and messages of the APS Mdina Cathedral Contemporary Art Biennale.

This week Valletta saw the opening of Sean Buhagiar's new cabaret-style spectacle, under the name of Balzunetta Towers. The script was based on research conducted by Alfred Sant, who then turned his intuitive creative prowess to this research and transformed it into a satirical and egregious script. Dominic Galea, a born and bred Balzunettan, composed the music while the eminent Albert Marshall penned the lyrics. Thus, a veritable cast of Maltese superstars were employed. The end product was meant to impress, and so it did. Based on a dual chronological stream of narrative, joined together through the presence of Old Solly and Young Solly, the narrative delves into the problems of gentrification, the changes to the social environment and the on-going march towards modernification.

How does this tie in with the APS Mdina Cathedral Contemporary Art Biennale? At a first glance, the verbose arguments proposed by Balzunetta Towers have little in common with the Silent City and this biannual spectacle of contemporary art. On one hand, the play is a memoir, a salute, to the flagrant days of Balzunetta married with the witty social commentary present in Sant's writing. On the other hand, it showcases the struggle for space, land, use and hegemony. As one of the show's catchy tunes states, the sordid red-light district of Floriana was found abutting the Archbishop's Curia, as well as Police Headquarters. Mostly created to cater for the numerous army and seamen stationed nearby, Balzunetta was a pulsing and dynamic sector of Maltese postwar society. Rather than the actual story, one interesting aspect that arises is the usage of space and area, as contrived within the dialogue of the script. The confluence of Donald Trump Jr, played by Davide Tucci, with il-Boqqu, played by Ozzy Lino, showcases the need for not only further enhancements to both their pockets and fame, but also a greed for more space. Il-Boqqu, a character based on several infamous personas of the Maltese legendarium, presents to us the common man grasping for more rungs on the ladder. The presence of a so-called 'sinful' place betwixt a holy institution and a public authority emphasises the liminality of spaces. Taking a socio-political point of view, the modern lifestyle versus the medievalesque festa, and the presence of archaic anti-progress mentalities harboured within many are key arguments for the presence of this dualism within Maltese society.

Taking a more art historical standpoint, this dualism is manifested through the choice and success of art styles in Malta. While contemporary art is present in many art societies in Malta, a somewhat retardataire look at more classic forms of painting exist, while the complete rejoice in the neo-Baroque, as postulated by Dr Schembri Bonaci, is replete throughout this nation. The success of the past, the love for the old and the yearning for nostalgia transform itself into something kitsch and lifeless. Nevertheless, this dualism, as mentioned before is echoed in Balzunetta through the duality of spaces, and the ping-pong style narrative that diverts from the postwar years to the post-Brexit Trumpian era of 2017, which we live in today. The conflict felt within those burgeoning pre-Independence days in Malta is akin to the changes felt globally and locally nowadays.

In so many words, Mdina is the exemplar of the orthodox and the status quo. It has remained, for better or worse, almost untouched for four hundred years, since the Baroque enhancements undergone in the eighteenth century. As a space, it is the opposite of Balzunetta - it is enclosed, hewn, and sanctioned in its use. It comes alive during the day, with a multitude of activity, and goes back to its dormant state at night. The past in Mdina is safely guarded and maintained, whilst the Balzunetta area has been reduced to a handful of memories and prose. The duality and conflict of diverse city spaces was explored by Ilaria Cuccagna, an Italian artist whose Migratio project involved the transporting of a reproduction of a wall in Mdina to Splendid in Strait Street, where it was exhibited. The exhibition formed part of the Strada Stretta Concept's artistic programme.

The Mdina Biennale, in its early days, started as an exhibition solely on Catholic and religious art. The immensity of the contemporary world was somewhat ignored in favour for the personalised taste of a local few, in an attempt to always safeguard the status quo. This past Biennale in 2015-16 helped awaken the need for a new contemporary space to welcome both local and international artists. The past has seen great strides in the rejoicement of contemporary art, with several spaces or exhibitions being set up, and with Malta's recent entry in the Venice Biennale after a long hiatus. Nonetheless, it is this aspect of one-offs that brings peril to the contemporary scene in Malta. The need for continuity, remembrance and vitalisation is at the core of the Mdina Biennale.

The APS Mdina Cathedral Contemporary Art Biennale 2017 endeavours to bring out the past with the marriage of the present future. It is this duality, of both idea and space, which allows the Mdina Biennale to take ownership of a new style of curatorship, dialogue and commemoration.